An iPhone XR Mini, center, should replace the discontinued iPhone SE, left. The photos are shown to scale, with an iPhone XS for comparison. (Photos, Apple; collage, Glenn Marston)
Series: Apple’s Absentees
Part 2 of 2
When Apple’s website reappeared after shutdown for the company’s Sept. 12 product event, it displayed a list of the new X-series iPhones.
Eliminated from Apple availability were the regular- and large-size iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s, which had been introduced in September 2014 and September 2015.
Also missing was a unique small phone, the iPhone SE. Based on the body of 2012’s iPhone 5, it had been the only remnant of the compact early iPhones.
One should not assume that Apple has sworn off small phones. They are favorites of smaller folks, plus a segment of women that eschews the grand purse and those of both genders who prefer to travel light with clothes tailored tight.
Apple might have intended no inference other than limiting new iPhones to those in the minimal-bezel, Face ID form of the X series.
With that in mind, Apple should produce an iPhone XR Mini as a follow-on to the iPhone SE.
An iPhone XR Mini could be a simple shrink of the iPhone XR. The XR, with a 6.1-inch LCD screen, was announced Sept. 12 for ordering Oct. 19 and delivery Oct. 26.
Compared to the XR, an iPhone XR Mini would have:
The same A12 Bionic processor.
The same improved, single cameras front and back.
The same Face ID.
An LCD screen of 4.9 inches.
By following the form of the iPhone X in comparison to the iPhone 8, the body and screen proportions would be similar. The only difference is the calculations would start from a smaller point, that of the iPhone SE.
The measurements work out as follows:
Body width: SE, 2.31 inches. XR Mini, 2.43 inches.
Body height: SE, 4.87 inches. XR Mini, 5.05 inches.
Screen, diagonally: SE, 4 inches. XR Mini, 4.9 inches.
Reasons for excluding an iPhone XR Mini from the Sept. 12 event could include a desire to concentrate marketing on the Big Three iPhone X series or a need to conserve A12 Bionic chips for the inaugural rush.
Announcement of an iPhone XR Mini would be reasonable during a second product event this fall, spring 2019 or in September 2019.
Expect a more expensive price, as with the upgrade from other traditional-form iPhones to the iPhone X series.
Compared to the iPhone SE’s starting price of $349 and the iPhone XR’s $749, one might expect a starting price of $549 or $599 for an iPhone XR Mini.